Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo

Leviticus 24

Leviticus 24 places sanctuary worship and justice in Israel’s camp under the authority of the same holy God.

YHWH tells Moses to have Israel supply oil for the sanctuary lamps and flour for twelve loaves. Aaron must tend the lamps, and the bread must be set before YHWH each Sabbath. The account then turns to a fight in the camp, where a man curses YHWH’s name. He is held until God declares judgment. Instructions about blasphemy, killing, and injury follow, with one law for foreigners and native-born Israelites. The congregation carries out the sentence.

sermon or Bible study notesinjustice and anger
Read
2“Command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.
4He shall keep in order the lamps on the pure gold lamp stand before the LORD continually.
5“You shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenths of an ephah shall be in one cake.
6You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD.
7You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to the LORD.
8Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually. It is an everlasting covenant on the behalf of the children of Israel.
9It shall be for Aaron and his sons. They shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.”
11The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.
12They put him in custody until the LORD’s will should be declared to them.
14“Bring him who cursed out of the camp; and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
15You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.
16He who blasphemes the LORD’s name, he shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The foreigner as well as the native-born shall be put to death when he blasphemes the Name.
17“‘He who strikes any man mortally shall surely be put to death.
18He who strikes an animal mortally shall make it good, life for life.
19If anyone injures his neighbor, it shall be done to him as he has done:
20fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. It shall be done to him as he has injured someone.
21He who kills an animal shall make it good; and he who kills a man shall be put to death.
22You shall have one kind of law for the foreigner as well as the native-born; for I am the LORD your God.’”
23Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they brought him who had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones. The children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Leviticus 24:5The twelve loaves begin the bread instructions, which establish an enduring covenant practice before YHWH on Israel’s behalf.
Leviticus 24:16The death sentence for blasphemy establishes the gravity of dishonoring YHWH’s name and applies to foreigners and native-born Israelites.
Leviticus 24:17The command concerning a fatal attack introduces distinctions between taking human life, killing an animal, and causing bodily injury.
Where this chapter reaches

Exodus shares the instructions for sanctuary lamps and bread, while Hebrews names the lampstand, table, and bread when describing the tabernacle’s furnishings. Matthew quotes the eye-for-eye rule in Jesus’ teaching, linking this chapter’s law of proportionate injury to his teaching about responding to wrongdoing.

Leviticus 24's chapter linksAll strongest linksHover or tap a book
Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do the repeated duties surrounding the lamps and bread show you about Israel’s worship?

Write on this

What questions arise as you read the blasphemy sentence alongside the equal law for foreigners and native-born Israelites?

Write on this

Questions people ask about Leviticus 24

Why was the man stoned in Leviticus 24?

During a fight, the man blasphemed YHWH’s name and cursed. The text does not record his exact words. He was held until YHWH declared the sentence through Moses. God commanded stoning outside the camp and stated that the same penalty applied to foreigners and native-born Israelites.

What does eye for eye mean in Leviticus 24?

The phrase states a rule of proportionate justice: the consequence corresponds to the injury inflicted. It appears among laws distinguishing injury, the killing of an animal, and the killing of a person. The chapter requires the same law for foreigners and native-born Israelites, though it gives no detailed courtroom procedure.

What were the twelve loaves of bread in Leviticus 24?

They were cakes made from fine flour, arranged in two rows on the gold table before YHWH, with frankincense placed on each row. Fresh bread was set out each Sabbath. Aaron and his sons ate it in a holy place. The chapter calls this an everlasting covenant on Israel’s behalf.

Read it. Now write it.

Start an entry on Leviticus 24. Your words go beside the text, and you get one next step for the week.

Leviticus · 27 chapters
123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627
What the Bible says about anger →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).